


The Art of Persuasion

by snapshots



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, One Shot, all interactions are purely platonic and are to be interpreted as such, domestic batfamily, probably ooc sorry, theres some swearing jic its not someones cup of tea, this is a lot of dialogue, vague spoilers for the movie coco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-05 21:10:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13396293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snapshots/pseuds/snapshots
Summary: The idea to take his brothers to see a movie came to mind while Dick pondered the events of last night. He and his brothers had a rough go of it while on patrol, which none were very happy about. [...] He knew that after last night they all needed a distraction- a breather. Dick figured that a movie might do the trick. Thing was… how would he convince his younger brothers to go?





	The Art of Persuasion

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: I fixed the formatting and some wording that seemed off!

**_The Kitchen_ **

 

The idea to take his brothers to see a movie came to mind while Dick pondered the events of last night. He and his brothers had a rough go of it while on patrol, which none were very happy about. Each of them was off sulking currently: Dick while eating his bowl of cereal, Tim while busying himself with work, Damian most likely in his room, and Jason was… God knows where. Dick hoped that Jason at least decided to stick around after patrol. He knew that after last night they all needed a distraction- a breather. Dick figured that a movie might do the trick. Thing was… how would he convince his younger brothers to go?

He quickly finished his breakfast – well, if you considered it to be breakfast time, it was currently 1 p.m. – and cleaned up his mess. Dick was careful to mind his sore shoulder, the pain a result of it being dislocated in last night’s patrol. Alfred had done a good job tending to it, to all their wounds, but it did not please Dick in the slightest to have his arm bound in a sling. Bruce’s stern, disappointed voice rang in Dick’s head.

 _I told you all to stay out of this_ , Bruce had said. _Every one of you boys disobeyed me tonight, got hurt, and put the mission in jeopardy. For that, you are all relieved of patrol for a week, or until your wounds are mended. Am I clear?_

They had all been disgruntled by their father’s words at first, but Dick realized later that Bruce was genuinely concerned for their wellbeing. He just… had a hard time saying it bluntly. Being the world’s greatest detective did not help Bruce in the emotion department.

Pushing the thoughts of last night aside, Dick leaned against the counter. He tried to think of the movies that were showing in theaters right now. The choice had to be something that wouldn’t upset any of them. Too many movies included scenes that triggered unpleasant memories for the four brothers, so whenever they _did_ watch a movie, they had to be careful. Dick guessed that they could just stay home and watch a movie in Bruce’s mini home theater, but there was always something special about going to an actual theater to watch a movie. In his opinion, anyway. Plus, it wasn’t like they didn’t have the money for it.

Animated movies were usually always the way to go. Usually. Dick wasn’t so sure that Jason would like the idea of going to see _My Little Pony: The Movie_. But, he remembered Barbara and Stephanie talking about an animated movie they saw together a week or so ago. Maybe, if he could convince his brothers, they could go see that one. _Coco_ , it was called. Barbara said it was about Día de los Muertos. But if the movie hadn’t affected Babs or Steph in a negative way, then Dick was safe to assume they would be fine, too.

 

* * *

 

**_Tim’s Room_ **

Tim heard a knock at his door. He glanced at the door from where he was sitting at his desk. He assumed it might be Bruce wanting to discuss last night in further detail, so he squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath before saying, “Come in.”

His shoulders relaxed when he saw that it was his brother, Dick. Who had a suspicious smile on his face. Sure, smiles for Dick weren’t foreign in the slightest, but there was a hint of humor in his eyes. Tim narrowed his own. Dick must have sensed Tim’s uncertainty because he put his good arm up in a show of peace.

“How’s your leg, Tim?” Dick asked.

“I can walk on it, it just hurts,” Tim replied, looking at the tight bandages wrapped around his thigh. He had gotten stabbed last night, but luckily the blade missed his femoral artery. “Why are you asking? Are you trying to drag me into another scheme?”

Dick raised an eyebrow. “I’m asking to _ask_ , Tim. Because I care about you.”

Tim sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Sorry, Dick, I’m just… it was a long night.”

“I know. No need to apologize. But I was wondering – hey, hear me out first before you give me a look like that – I was wondering if you maybe wanted to see a movie?”  

Tim looked at his laptop screen, biting his lower lip. He had a _ton_ of work to do. At least it seemed that way. He looked back to his big brother, who had pleading eyes.

“I-I don’t really know, Dick. I have a lot of work I still need to do-”

“Tim, you’re _always_ working, I don’t think it’ll kill you to take a two-hour break.”

“Look, I know you mean well, but my work is really important.”

Dick’s smile faltered. He began to make a show of looking hurt, as if Tim had personally just slapped him and told him to fuck off.

“Oh, no you don’t, don’t even _try_ -” But Tim’s words fell on deaf ears, as Dick made his way to where Tim was.

“Please, Timmy,” Dick said in a small voice, which Tim knew was on purpose. He knew exactly what Dick was trying to do. He was trying to use his theatrics to get Tim to do what he wanted. Which, for some reason, always worked on Tim. Despite knowing Dick was faking, it didn’t change the fact that it tugged at his heart. Tim groaned.

“Fine. I’ll go. But then you have to leave me alone, okay? I really need to finish what I’m working on.”

Dick’s smile was back, and he used his good arm to ruffle Tim’s hair.

“Excellent! It’s in an hour, so you have thirty minutes to get ready.”

“Wait, what are we even seeing?”

Dick was headed towards Tim’s door. “Oh, Coco, it’s a new Pixar movie. And I’m inviting Jason and Damian, so no fighting.”

‘Inviting’, Dick said. Tim scoffed. More like he was going to entrap them just as he had done to Tim.

“Yeah, sure, okay. I’ll be ready soon.”

With that, Dick shut Tim’s door softly, the smile still on his face. Tim couldn’t seem to shake one of his own, either.

 

* * *

 

**_The Batcave_**

 

Jason was in the middle of letting out his frustration over last night on a dummy when Dick approached him.

“Whoa, whoa, Jason! You’re gonna tear your stitches, stop,” said Dick, letting out an exasperated breath while catching one of Jason’s fists. Jason immediately tore away from his grasp, but stopped attacking the beaten-down dummy. “I know last night went to shit, but I don’t think reopening your injury is going to help anything.”

“Yeah, yeah. You got a point in coming to me?” Jason asked, swiping a water bottle from a nearby ledge and taking a drink from it.

“Well, first of all, I’m changing your bandages. It doesn’t look like you changed them ever since last night.” He motioned for Jason to sit. Begrudgingly, Jason did.

“Maybe because it’s difficult for me to reach my back.”

“You could’ve asked me, Jay. Or Alfred, or Bruce- anyone. We’re here for you. You act like we aren’t, but we are,” Dick said gently while peeling off the gauze on Jason’s back just as carefully. Jason grunted in response. Once new gauze covered the stitched-up gash, Jason got up.

“So,” started Dick, “I was wondering… did you wanna go see a movie with me, Tim and Damian?”

“Uh… which movie?”

“Coco. It’s a Pixar movie. I know it probably seems dumb to you, but-”

“Okay. I’ll go.”

“Wait. Really? You actually want to go? I don’t have to drag you to the theater?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I want to go. Ever since Steph and Barbara wouldn’t shut up about it, I’ve been curious. They made it sound good.”

“Wow. I even had a motivational speech about brotherly bonding prepared and everything,” Dick said, laughing under his breath. “In any case, I’m glad you want to go, Jason. It’ll be good to have you there with us.”

Jason coughed awkwardly. “Whatever, Dick. Just don’t make it weird.”

“We go out every night as vigilantes and fight psychopaths, Jay. Everything in our life is weird,” Dick responded. Jason supposed he was right. And Jason _was_ trying to spend more time with his family. It was still hard for him, sometimes, to get along with everyone. Especially Bruce. But he was trying. And he would probably never admit it out loud, but he truly did like spending time with them.

“Uh-huh. Let me get dressed, then I’ll be ready.”

 

* * *

 

**_Damian’s Room_ **

 

“Dami!”

The exclamation of his name made Damian peer over his knees at his oldest brother. He was currently laying on his bed, sketchbook in his lap. He _had_ been drawing his irritation about last night’s defeat. Damian found that drawing his emotions was a good way to vent, and could be quite calming. But now he was being interrupted.

“Grayson. What is it that you require? I’m trying to draw,” Damian said, using his pencil to draw lines. He couldn’t say that he wasn’t a little grateful for Dick’s presence. For whatever reason, whenever Grayson was near, Damian felt like he was safe.

“How are you? Y’know… since last night was rough for everyone. I want to make sure you’re all right, not just physically,” Dick said, smiling as he sat on the end of Damian’s bed. Damian shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with,” responded Damian, “what’s done is done.”

“Damian, you can tell me anything. You know that.”

“Of course I do. You incessantly drill that into my head every time something is upsetting me.”

“Because it’s true. You don’t need to fight every battle on your own,” Dick said.

“I know, Grayson. Thank you. But I’m not sure that I want to talk about it, or if you can help. I’d like to continue with my sketch if you don’t mind.”

“Mm. Well, you know that if you do find yourself needing me, I’m always here.”

“Richard. I know,” said Damian. Sometimes he didn’t understand why his brother was always so kind to him. Even with all the atrocities Damian had committed in the past, even though he had failed everyone last night, Grayson was always so… gentle with him. Damian had even cried - frustrated - over some of Grayson’s gestures of warmth before. He was more used to them now, but he had spent a good portion of his life with harshness, where affection was not easily found.

“Good. Look, Dami, how about we go see a movie? It’s called Coco. It’s animated. You’ll like it.”

“Animated? So, it’s a movie for children?”

“You’re a child,” Dick laughed.

“ _Tt_.”

Dick leaned over to run his fingers through Damian’s hair. Damian didn’t flinch away.

“Come on. It’ll be fun. And I doubt it’ll be flashy or loud, so it shouldn’t irritate anything,” Dick said, pointing to Damian’s head. He was suffering from a concussion due to last night's failure. Damian pursed his lips. He supposed he could go.

“I assume Drake and Todd are going, as well?”

“Yeah, they both agreed to go. I figured an outing to the movies would be a good way to de-stress. We all need a good distraction, I think.”

Damian smiled. “If we go, can we get candy? Pennyworth hardly lets me have sweets.”

“Sometimes, you truly are a kid. But yeah, we can get candy, if that’s what you want,” Dick smiled back. “So that’s a yes? You’ll come with us?”

“Yes. For the candy.”

 

* * *

**_After the movie_ **

 

Dick had to admit, persuading his brothers to come along hadn’t been as hard as he had imagined. He was glad they all agreed to go, though. The movie had been as good as Babs and Stephanie said it was, and he could tell his brothers thought the same as well. Currently, they were walking out of the theater, the sun bright in the sky. Tim and Damian seemed to be in extensive conversation with each other about the deeper meanings of the film. Jason was putting in his own two cents as well.

Seeing his family like this, happy and safe, made Dick’s heart swell. They had to do this more often.

“So, what was everyone’s favorite part?” Dick asked them.

“When that bastard – what’s his name – got exactly what he deserved,” Jason responded. Noises of affirmation came from Dick, Tim, and Damian.

“I liked the part where Miguel is crossing the bridge into the Land of the Dead. It was incredible. The visuals, I mean,” said Tim. Dick smiled at him.

“I think my favorite part would have to be the very end when they’re all together. It was... inspiring,” Damian answered.

“Awh, you’re adorable,” Dick teased.

“Call me adorable again and you’ll lose the use of your other arm, Grayson.”

Dick laughed. “I think I have to agree, though, Damian. I liked the part where they’re all together at the end, too.”

They continued their conversation about the film, which drifted off into different topics. It didn’t matter to Dick what they were talking about, though, because they were all safe. Happy. Together. Despite all the hardships they’ve been through, they were here now, in the present. And they were okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in over a year, much less written fanfiction, so this is probably rough. If you have any constructive criticism for me, I'd love to hear it! Also, sorry for any OOC-ness, I'm not as familiar with Tim and Jason as I am with Dick and Damian. Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read my work! If this fic gets a good response I might write more in the future!


End file.
